Brattan: The week off has helped us in a good way

After cutting off his famous locks for the World’s Greatest Shave, City midfielder Luke Brattan says the “lighter” feel and a week off will help him and his side launch an important run towards the Finals Series.

Brattan cut his hair on Wednesday at AAMI Park, hoping to raise $20,000 before Saturday’s match for the Leukaemia Foundation’s World’s Greatest Shave.

With a fresh cut and a fresh mindset towards the final four matches of the regular season, Brattan says it may have been the break his side needed after inconsistent results post-Westfield FFA Cup Final.

“It’s massive, we’ve had the weekend off and we’re all fresh,” Brattan said.

“We got to work on a few things during the week on the training pitch so we’re raring to go. It’s a home game so we’re going to need all the fans to be our 12th man.

“Personally, it’s helped me. I played pretty much every game this year so I needed a little break. You want to play every weekend but it was a welcome little break and all the boys are feeling good.

“We know what we have do. We need to take responsibility as players. It hasn’t been good enough this year and we have been too inconsistent and this is the period we need to gain momentum coming into the finals. I think we need to be more accountable in ourselves as players and it starts this weekend.

It will be no easy fixture for City on Saturday as they take on a Newcastle Jets side who will be desperate to keep their Finals chances alive and with City themselves vying for a home final, there’s no doubt the match will be an intriguing contest.

“I think it’s a credit to the league that every game is a hard game, you can’t take any team lightly and Newcastle proved that this year,” he said.

“They are sniffing for the finals as well so we need to come out firing as they do every week against us so it’s going to be a tough game.

“The league is getting more physical more intense and the football is getting better and better each year so its getting harder and harder but we have prepared very well for it.”

Brattan and City take on Newcastle this Saturday night at AAMI Park, kick-off 7.50pm. Click the banner below to secure you place at the match.